From Obsession to Mission: The Story of Hu Chenghua, Chairman of DMS SEALS, and His Sealing Career

In a small village in Jiahe, Hunan, there lived a little boy who always had his pockets stuffed with various screws or a few old batteries—this was Hu Chenghua in his childhood, born with an obsession for electronics and machinery. His teenage years were spent taking apart and reassembling countless devices, and he regarded repairing electrical appliances for villagers as a source of pride. It was during this time that the seed of "serving the country through technology" quietly took root—this dedication to mechatronics became the most unshakable foundation of his life's trajectory.

One of the most wonderful powers in the world is the convergence of a person's passion with the needs of the world. Despite a twist of fate that led him to study medicine in college and secure a coveted position within the system—a job most people dreamed of—Hu’s obsession with mechatronics drove him to resolutely resign and embark on an entrepreneurial journey in 1995. He has been deeply engaged in the mechatronics industry for 20 years; though he did not achieve earth-shaking feats, he attained considerable accomplishments. During this period, he accumulated rich technical experience in the mechatronics sector, honed his sharp business acumen, and forged an indomitable and resilient character. In 2014, Hu Chenghua joined Foshan DMS SEALS Technology Co., Ltd., devoting himself to the R&D and production of seals—a fundamental component in mechatronics. Confronted with industry pain points, he accurately pinpointed the direction of "technological breakthrough": "To create products that others cannot make or cannot make well."

In 2017, addressing the common industry problems of strong reliance on manual labor and low production capacity in the manufacturing of PTFE seals, he worked day and night to tackle mechanical action processes, circuit design, and software programming. He successfully developed an automatic molding machine for PTFE tube materials and completed the mass production of the equipment. This achievement reduced workers' labor intensity, minimized human intervention to improve product quality, and increased the per capita production capacity by 10 times. These independently developed non-standard automated equipment not only meet the company's own production needs but also have become highly sought-after tools in the industry, completely breaking the long-standing dilemma of "being unable to purchase non-standard equipment" within the sector.

Hu Chenghua deeply understands that "a scientific material formula is the core competitiveness." As the chief engineer, he leads a formula R&D team with himself as the core backbone to take on greater challenges. Addressing the problem of short service life of hydraulic seals under harsh working conditions such as hydraulic breakers, the team developed a material formula suitable for high-frequency impact environments. They also overcame the industry challenge of "no standard testing method for the toughness of polymer materials." Through countless experimental optimizations, a high-toughness formula was successfully developed using purely domestic raw materials—its toughness index far exceeds that of products made with high-end imported raw materials. This not only breaks the foreign technological monopoly but also builds a core cost advantage for the enterprise.

When tackling the long-standing issue of short service life of truck steering ball sockets, which have long relied on imported materials, Hu Chenghua’s R&D team made innovative breakthroughs through numerous formula improvements and production process optimizations. They increased the bench test life of the ball sockets from 1 million cycles to 3 million cycles, ensuring the safe operation of heavy-duty trucks and mining vehicles for 450,000 kilometers. As a result, the product’s domestic market share has steadily remained at the forefront of the industry, fully replacing internationally renowned brands。

From entering the seal industry in 2014 to 2025, Hu Chenghua and the R&D team he leads have secured more than 40 invention patents in total. Guided by Hu Chenghua’s philosophy of "technology-driven and pursuit of excellence,"DMS SEALS has achieved rapid growth: it has been consecutively recognized as a "National High-Tech Enterprise" since 2018; in 2022, it was awarded the titles of "Foshan Specialized, Refined, Characteristic, and Innovative Enterprise" and "Guangdong Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise"; and in 2023, it gained the recognition of "Guangdong Specialized, Refined, Characteristic, and Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise."